Android have you done any weight baring exercises yet and if not has the doctors told when it’ll be possible to try and put weight on your legs
So how did it feel to have your femur sawed completely through? Can you describe the pain once the meds first started to wear off post surgery?
My fear is that it comes up like "Oh my god, oh my fking god!!" And it just comes rushing to you.
Hello Android
I am really glad to see you progressing. 1,5 mm a day is not bad at all. As you mentioned, you will finish earlier than expected. But I hope it will not be uncomfortable. Just listen to your body and adjust the lengthening accordingly.
I wish you truly good luck. May God bless you.
Hey Android
It's quite impressive how you are handling on your own in a place like this, in a foreign country without language knowledge. And somehow you also have the will to update the diary with quality info. I couldn't do that for the life of me when I was lengthening. I did definitely enjoy reading the diary.
How much did you lengthen already and how much do you plan to? I suggest doing a smaller amount such as 5/5 tibia/femur or perhaps 4/6. Lengthening the tibia over 5 cm hurts the ankle joint quite a bit. With 5/5 cm you will have less time lengthening, faster bone healing and recovery, better proportions and joint function.
Quote from: Moon knight on July 29, 2018, 01:12:35 PMAndroid have you done any weight baring exercises yet and if not has the doctors told when it’ll be possible to try and put weight on your legs
Ilizarov frames are weight bearing, so I've been doing some standing and walking exercises with a walker. It's pretty painful for me, so I don't walk much. This is Dr. Kulesh's opinion, but he doesn't necessarily recommend weight bearing during lengthening, so I don't feel so bad that I'm mostly immobile on my bed.
Quote from: Johnson1111 on August 02, 2018, 01:17:32 AMSo how did it feel to have your femur sawed completely through? Can you describe the pain once the meds first started to wear off post surgery?
I don't feel pain at the osteotomy sites at all. I don't feel pain inside my leg where the bones are broken either. After the anesthesia wore off, I just felt general pain all over my legs, not a particular spot. So don't fear the osteotomy itself, it's no big deal.
Quote from: Rocky on August 05, 2018, 04:16:05 PMI am really glad to see you progressing. 1,5 mm a day is not bad at all. As you mentioned, you will finish earlier than expected. But I hope it will not be uncomfortable. Just listen to your body and adjust the lengthening accordingly.
I wish you truly good luck. May God bless you.
Yeah, 1.5 mm is not bad at all. Jim and Pope did higher rates and that seemed painful though. Thanks Rocky, may God bless us all!
Quote from: Overdozer on August 05, 2018, 11:20:21 PMIt's quite impressive how you are handling on your own in a place like this, in a foreign country without language knowledge. And somehow you also have the will to update the diary with quality info. I couldn't do that for the life of me when I was lengthening. I did definitely enjoy reading the diary.
How much did you lengthen already and how much do you plan to? I suggest doing a smaller amount such as 5/5 tibia/femur or perhaps 4/6. Lengthening the tibia over 5 cm hurts the ankle joint quite a bit. With 5/5 cm you will have less time lengthening, faster bone healing and recovery, better proportions and joint function.
Whoa, hey Overdozer! Your diary was my main inspiration for doing cross lengthening, Jim's helped me to pull the trigger. Glad that you're enjoying my diary.
So far the language barrier hasn't been too bad thanks to Google Translate. I've learned some Russian as well, so I can at least communicate with the nurses. They really like it when I speak Russian, their faces light up.
The main reason why I don't update my diary as often as I'd like is because I'm using an old, heavy Macbook Pro with a terrible battery life. Definitely bringing another laptop when I come back for my second session.
I've lengthened over 3 cm on both segments, hoping for 6 cm tibia and 7 cm femur. I might lower my tibia goal to 5 cm if I face any difficulty, so far I don't feel any pain at all and my dorsiflexion is OK.
A general update and some topics of interest!
Latest X-rays: July 30, 2018
At this point, the total distracted was 2-2.5 cm for the femurs, 2.2-2.5 cm on the tibias.
Tibia:
Femur:
Pain
I started getting some really bad nerve pain on my femur frame leg shortly after returning to the hospital. I received injections (I think it was ketoprofen) for the pain twice a day, a few times twice at night an hour apart since it was so bad. It's a sharp, burning pain that you can't ignore; it can range from pain level 6 up to 9.
Once I reached pain level 9, I asked Dr. Kulesh to set up an appointment for me with a neurologist. A day or two later Dr. Kulesh and the neurologist came to my room to do some tests, and I got a prescription for some meds. Dr. Nikita came by later that day with my meds, which are pictured here:
Lyrica (150 mg) is the main actor here, and it does a good enough job. I need 2 to 3 of these a night to sleep well.
The other two are Ipidacrine and thiotic acid.
As for my tibia frame leg, it doesn't hurt much at all. Sometimes the shin hurts, but it hasn't made me want to call the nurse for it or anything. Hurts really bad when I walk, and will remain painful for about 30 min, but that's about it.
What do you do all day?
I really don't do much other than lengthen and take pills, which I do every couple hours. I use my phone a lot to watch YouTube, listen to podcasts, and play games. Honestly, this is pretty much what I did in my able-bodied days if I didn't get invited to hang out.
While I was living in the apartment with WiFi, I binge watched a few shows: Better Call Saul (Season 2), The Americans (Season 6), and Cobra Kai. Cobra Kai was a surprise for me, it was as awesome as all the reviews claimed it to be.
When I'm up to it, I work on an online Udacity course, the Android Basics Nanodegree. I got a free scholarship for it and was selected among my peers to advance in the program. Hell of a timing for this, but I'll do my best to complete it so I can get my certificate.
What happened to the cute nurse?
Ah, Alice. Great person. One night she came into my room to just chat until she was summoned by another patient. She came back and asked if she was bothering me, and I said no. We talked until the buzzer went off again, and did that one more time. She asked a lot of questions about me, so I'm guessing there's some interest.
Two days later it was her shift again. This time she didn't chat with me much since she had newer nurses to babysit and teach. I had to call her though for my knee pain, gave me a shot. An hour later I was still in very bad pain, so I got a second shot.
I complained that I was hungry, saying that the dinner that night was awful (curd, bread, and tea). I was just making small talk really, but after a few minutes she came back with two plates loaded with food!
Here's my dinner:
And here's what Alice brought:
She heated up the meat pies and even cut up some veggies. I was overwhelmed with gratefulness.
So yeah, next time I see her I'll ask for her WhatsApp. Wish me luck.
Total Lengthened so Far:
Tibia 31.5 mm (1 mm day)
Femur 34.75 mm (1.5 mm day)
Estimated Days Remaining Before Correction/Nailing: 27 days
Most detailed diary by far and thank You for keeping us updated. I wanted to get LL this month as I had planned to do 2 segments. I tried to consider a few options, cross lengthening was one of them. From what I can read from this and other diaries that Femurs and externals are unwelcoming. Probably i will save more money and do external Tibias and internal Femurs. Still not sure what is better to do first.
Quote from: Android on August 06, 2018, 08:58:25 AMA general update and some topics of interest!
Latest X-rays: July 30, 2018
At this point, the total distracted was 2-2.5 cm for the femurs, 2.2-2.5 cm on the tibias.
Tibia:
Femur:
Pain
I started getting some really bad nerve pain on my femur frame leg shortly after returning to the hospital. I received injections (I think it was ketoprofen) for the pain twice a day, a few times twice at night an hour apart since it was so bad. It's a sharp, burning pain that you can't ignore; it can range from pain level 6 up to 9.
Once I reached pain level 9, I asked Dr. Kulesh to set up an appointment for me with a neurologist. A day or two later Dr. Kulesh and the neurologist came to my room to do some tests, and I got a prescription for some meds. Dr. Nikita came by later that day with my meds, which are pictured here:
Lyrica (150 mg) is the main actor here, and it does a good enough job. I need 2 to 3 of these a night to sleep well.
The other two are Ipidacrine and thiotic acid.
As for my tibia frame leg, it doesn't hurt much at all. Sometimes the shin hurts, but it hasn't made me want to call the nurse for it or anything. Hurts really bad when I walk, and will remain painful for about 30 min, but that's about it.
What do you do all day?
I really don't do much other than lengthen and take pills, which I do every couple hours. I use my phone a lot to watch YouTube, listen to podcasts, and play games. Honestly, this is pretty much what I did in my able-bodied days if I didn't get invited to hang out.
While I was living in the apartment with WiFi, I binge watched a few shows: Better Call Saul (Season 2), The Americans (Season 6), and Cobra Kai. Cobra Kai was a surprise for me, it was as awesome as all the reviews claimed it to be.
When I'm up to it, I work on an online Udacity course, the Android Basics Nanodegree. I got a free scholarship for it and was selected among my peers to advance in the program. Hell of a timing for this, but I'll do my best to complete it so I can get my certificate.
What happened to the cute nurse?
Ah, Alice. Great person. One night she came into my room to just chat until she was summoned by another patient. She came back and asked if she was bothering me, and I said no. We talked until the buzzer went off again, and did that one more time. She asked a lot of questions about me, so I'm guessing there's some interest.
Two days later it was her shift again. This time she didn't chat with me much since she had newer nurses to babysit and teach. I had to call her though for my knee pain, gave me a shot. An hour later I was still in very bad pain, so I got a second shot.
I complained that I was hungry, saying that the dinner that night was awful (curd, bread, and tea). I was just making small talk really, but after a few minutes she came back with two plates loaded with food!
Here's my dinner:
And here's what Alice brought:
She heated up the meat pies and even cut up some veggies. I was overwhelmed with gratefulness.
So yeah, next time I see her I'll ask for her WhatsApp. Wish me luck.
Total Lengthened so Far:
Tibia 31.5 mm (1 mm day)
Femur 34.75 mm (1.5 mm day)
Estimated Days Remaining Before Correction/Nailing: 27 days
Good one, keep us posted. BTW, you can get some action from Alice next time she comes to you at night to chat grab her hands and start from there. Once I got some action with my friends hot mom like that - I was sleeping in their house one night, she came to chat, I felt she needs some action, and escalated her and then..my first bang bang
Quote from: 419 on August 06, 2018, 10:23:05 PMGood one, keep us posted. BTW, you can get some action from Alice next time she comes to you at night to chat grab her hands and start from there. Once I got some action with my friends hot mom like that - I was sleeping in their house one night, she came to chat, I felt she needs some action, and escalated her and then..my first bang bang
wtf?? 
You must be logged in to post a reply.